Meek Little Wives
by baseballfan44
Summary: Sometimes, it's not just the criminals one has to worry about. Minor Don-whumping.
1. Chapter 1

**Meek Little Wives**

A/N: My first splash into the Numb3rs fanfic-dom! I've loved Numb3rs for awhile, but haven't got up the...uh....courage, I guess, to write a story yet. I've been reading a lot of other peoples, and they're all really good, and I hope I can measure up!

This is just a little one-shot-turned-two-shot that popped into my head. It's kinda weird, but whatever. Had to break in with something. It's been forever since I've written any fanfiction. My goal was to get this out like a month ago, but when that didn't work out I decided I needed to get it out before the season 6 premiere. How'd I do? Anywho, enjoy, and please review at the end!

Disclaimer: I own no one. Or nothing. Or whatever. Don't sue, ya won't end up with much cause I ain't got nothing. I did, however, take a few creative licenses with the setting of this first chapter, because I've never been to southern California and I don't know anything about it. It all comes from a quick Google search.

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August 15, 2009  
4:35 PM  
Santa Rosa Mountains, CA

Up, down, up, down. Curve right, curve left, straight ahead. Repeat as necessary until results are shown. But at this rate, it would be the year 2020 before that happened. FBI Special Agent David Sinclair stole a quick glance at his boss, Special Agent Don Eppes. The man's sweaty face and labored breathing surely matched his own. Even in the mountains, shaded by forest, it was still sunny southern California in the summer, meaning it was entirely too hot for this intense of a hike.

_But this isn't a hike,_ David had to remind himself. No, the reason the two men were trekking through the forest was hardly as innocent and relzxing as a simple hike.

Jacob Richard Lucas was a fugitive. He was a member of a known polygamist group. Although insignificant, with only fifteen wives instead of the sixty or so that the major players had, Lucas had murdered twelve of his wives. It was in attempt to stop the other three from following similar fates that David now found himself maneuvering through the forest's thick vegetation and mountainous slopes.

A county sheriff had located a vehicle at the base of the trail. A quick check with dispatch had told the sheriff that the green Jeep had been stolen. It was upon finding a photo of one of the three remaining wives, Rebecca Saunders, that the FBI was contacted. Now, David and Don had been out here for three hours with no sign of their quarry.

"You smell that?" Don suddenly inquired, piercing through David's thoughts. David sniffed the air, detecting a faint whiff of something familiar and unmistakable.

"Smoke," he said. "Could be Lucas, sheltering out somewhere."

Don nodded his agreement, but stayed silent. David followed suit. Surprise was their biggest weapon in this sitation. The two men were working under the assumption that Lucas was unaware of his mistake. Until now, the fugitive had proven too smart and devious to have knowingly leave such an obvious trail of evidence as the photo of Rebecca Saunders was. Hence the body count adding up to twelve.

David sank back into his thoughts, reflecting on how tough this case had been. Even Charlie had trouble finding a pattern in Lucas' movements before inspiration struck. Instead, the mathematician had begun focusing on the movements of the wives to try and get to them before Lucas did. The concept reminded David very much of the dog-chasing-the-cat-chasing-the-mouse pursuit curve thing they had used to find Crystal Hoyle three years before.

But still, the three wives--Rebecca Saunders along with Rachel Kelson and Leah Meyers--had proved difficult to track. Days of interviewing other men and women in the polygamist group, pouring through anything to do with Jacob Lucas, and other fruitless jobs had proved exhausting to the whole team. David watched his boss nearly have a meltdown of frustration before convincing him to take a day off. As primary relief supervisor, David promised to oversee everything that went on. He knew a year ago, Don never would have agreed. But David had proved himself more than capable in the days following Don's stabbing.

However, nothing eventful happened during Don's day off. By the end, David himself was so frustrated, it led him to one question which he voiced aloud:

Where was Ian Edgerton when they needed him? This was his area of expertise, was it not?

Nikki mentioned something about a fugitive chase through Montana, but David decided he didn't even _want_ to know why she knew that.

But finally, Lucas slipped up and left that photo in the stolen vehicle, right after Charlie flagged Rebecca as the next wife to be murdered. David felt bad for the three wives. They must have known by now what had happened to the other twelve, and he could only imagine what had happened to the other twelve, and he could only imagine they were terrified.

_Ouch._ David shrugged off his thoughts as his face met with a tree branch. He looked over to see Don grinning at him. He shot a glare at his boss.

David was in the front of the two as they meandered single file through the narrow path. They walked for another five minutes or so, when suddenly David heard a twig snap. His senses heightened, he threw his arm out behind him to warn Don of his impending stop. Once motionless, David glanced back to see his boss's level of alertness mirroring his own.

Don nodded to David, signaling for him to keep on the trail. The senior agent would cut to the left through the trees. It was a basic plan David had worked out with his boss in anticipation before the excursion began. Don would now head left toward the direction of the twig snap, to search for the cause of the sound, and hopefully flush woever was there out towards the trail. David would continue on silently, also scanning the woods for their quarry; simultaneously making sure he was prepared to capture him.

David watched Don dart stealthily into the forest. He woldiered on, watching carefully for further signs of Lucas. A couple more minutes passed with no results. Then David found himself entering into a small clearing and a big world of trouble. What happened next, he and Don had not previously anticipated.

Several things happened at once. The first one David noticed was Don screaming at him.

"David! He's coming your way!" The older agent shouted, although David couldn't see him yet.

Almost instantaneously, a man came tearing through the woods into David's clearing. David recognized him right away as Jacob Lucas. THe younger agent broke into a run as he saw Don sprinting into the clearing behind Lucas.

Off to his right somewhere, David suddenly heard another noise. It was a voice--more specifically a female voice, and it was yelling.

"Hey!" The mysterious female called. "Jacob! Stop right there!"

David looked toward the voice, but kept running toward Lucas. Entering the clearing from David's right were two very familiar women. He quickly realized they were Rachel Kelson and Leah Meyers, two of the three of Lucas' remaining wives.

For a moment, David wondered how long it would take for the divorce papers to come through. _Yep, and times that number by the three wives and we have the answer._ It occured to him that he had listened to Charlie lecture about math too much.

What happened next made David realize he needn't have worried at all about divorce math.

With his main focus being Lucas, David returned his sights to the fugitive. He ran towards the man for another second or two before he realized the two women were going to beat him to Lucas. Next, David realized the wives would beat Don as well. Lucas was like a trapped animal, with no direction to run to. He stopped, looking very much like a deer caught in the headlights.

Rachel Kelson reached Lucas first, hitting him with a tackle that stunned all three men. Milliseconds later, Leah Meyers reached Lucas, and started screaming as she and Rachel began beating him, much to David's surprise.

"You are a sinner against God!" Leah screamed. "You have broken His commandment; you are a murderer! May you burn in the fires of Hell!"

At the same time, while David noted how very old-fashioned all of these polygamy groups seemed to be, he and Don both drew their guns on the women. They were still a good fifty yards away each.

"Ladies!" Don called authoritatively. "Step away from him, we're FBI!"

But the women did not relent. The sheer unexpectedness of the attack was their most effectively used weapon. It held Lucas down better than their physical strength. The fact that they were supposedly the victims also kept David and Don at bay, as they didn't want to shoot at the victims. Just as Don issued his command, David saw that Lucas was beginning to fight back. The younger agent believed Lucas would have overpowered his wives, had it not been for Rachel's flawlessly delivered kick to her husband's temple, which knocked him out.

Suddenly, it was as if Rachel and Leah noticed Don and David for the first time. They ran away from their husband's broken, bloodied body, back the direction they came from.

"Secure the prisoner!" Don ordered, as he changed course to follow Rachel and Leah. David obeyed and flung himself down on the grass next to Lucas.

The whole encounter lasted maybe twenty or thirty seconds from when David entered the clearing. As he breathed hard and watched Don's retreating form dart into the forest, David was left with one burning question.

_What the hell just happened?_

He put two fingers to Lucas' neck, but found no pulse. He was dead, beaten to death by two meek little women whom David thought would be incapable of such actions. _Well, obviously, they just expressed their terror through a way I never thought possible._

Shaking his head in disbelief, David stood up once more. There was nothing anyone could do for Lucas. He broke into a jog, intending to assist his boss in the apprehension of the two women who were potential targets a minute ago but now were classified as murderers.

There was a small hill at the edge of the clearing, which David rose and looked down to the other side to assess the situation. The women had split up, and Don had gone after Rachel, who was clearly the faster of the two ladies.

David broke from the trail, running through the forest growth after Leah. His gun raised, David quickly gained speed and with it, easily was catching up to his quarry.

"FBI!" David shouted. "Freeze, or I will be forced to shoot!"

The threat had the desired result. Leah stopped dead in her tracks. Slowly, she turned around, her long blond hair whipping her pale face with a sudden, hot breeze. David saw the fear in her eyes and wondered again if this small, scared young woman could really have just murdered her six-foot-whatever bear of a husband.

"I'm going to need you to put your hands behind your head," David ordered gently. She complied, her hands shaking. He carefully fastened the handcuffs around her wrists, and the two made their way back to the trail.

Conveniently enough, as David and Leah emerged from the forest, Don was similarily guiding Rachel from the other side.

"Called for backup," Don informed his second-in-command. "Crime scene techs are on their way. They'll deal with Lucas. I'm assuming since you're here and not with him, that means he's dead?"

David nodded, and the two agents led their prisoners in silence along the trail for a couple minutes. The trail was now on the side of a steep hill, which rose sharply up on David's side and dropped drastically downwards mere inches away from Don's foot.

_Snap._

David stopped, but Don didn't seem to notice.

"You here that?" David asked his boss, while looking wildly to his left, up the mountain.

"No, what?" said Don, following David's gaze through the trees.

_Snap._

"That," David replied. Glancing at his boss, David saw that Don was now on high alert.

Don, with Rachel right in front of him, was slightly ahead and to the right of Leah, who was directly in front of David. This left all four people completely exposed to the upward mountain face when suddenly, someone came lunging down from the trees directly towards Don. David could just make out a blur of wild, dirty blond hair over Leah's head. David realized it was a girl.

The girl had a tree branch raised above her head. David saw Don raise his left arm instinctively to block the impending blow.

It was like watching a slow-motion movie that David was watching frame-by-frame. Don's arm was up. The branch came down. The branch hit Don.

Don lost his balance.

Don fell.

Dragging Leah to the edge, David looked over to see his bosss tumbling a good forty feet down the mountain before his flight was interrupted by a tree.

"Don!" David called before turning to look at Don's female assailant. He recognized her as one Rebecca Saunders, the third missing wife of Jacob Lucas. And she had her branch poised, ready for a second attack on David.

He realized he had no time to grab his Glock. All he had time to do was realize that with a fall like that, there was a possibility of Don being dead. And David was likely about to join his boss.

_Bang!_

The branch in Becky's hands fell and hit the ground with a soft thud. Then Becky herself hit the ground with an even louder thud, and Rachel and Leah screamed.

_Damn,_ David thought. _Shooter must have been in the trees. Only one person could have made a shot like that._

"Hey! Sinclair!" came a male voice from the forest. Slowly, the voice's owner became visible.

_Yep. That's him._

"Ian," David addressed the sniper. "We need to get to Don. He's--"

Ian cut him off. "I know. I saw the whole thing."

David nodded. Ian Edgerton had a knack for not being seen until he wanted to be seen.

The two men went to work. Edgerton let David go down to rescue his boss while he stayed on the trail with Rachel, Leah, and a very dead Becky.

As David reached the base of the tree where Don lay motionless, the second-in-command began to fear the worst. A heavily bleeding gash marred the left side of Don's otherwise ghostly pale face. His left leg was twisted at an odd angle that made David cringe. Kneeling beside his boss, David felt for Don's pulse and was relieved to find a fairly steady one.

"Oh, Don," David breathed as he touched Don's shoulder. He shook it lightly. "Come on, man. Wake up. Can't stay here forever."

He was rewarded shortly by Don's soft groan of pain.

"Ouch," the older agent muttered. "Guess I fell down the mountain?"

David laughed with relief. "Yeah. Looks like it. I actually almost joined you. Would have, had it not been for this tracker-dude who also happens to be the third best shot in the country."

Don weakly snorted. "Thank God for small mercies and Ian Edgerton."

_TBC_

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_So, this isn't the end, there's another chapter. I had it all as one originally but I decided it was too long and that I should break it up. Personally, I like the second chapter better; I've never been great at writing action scenes.

Please feel free to review, it feeds the self-esteem!


	2. Chapter 2

**Meek Little Wives**

A/N: Oh man! I'm so excited that there's people who like it! Yay people! You make me feel good. :) Here's part 2.

Disclaimer: I don't own Numb3rs. I'm simply indulging in this endeavor for pleasure.

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"And that's what happened," David said as he concluded his recount of recent events. The two people in front of him gaped wordlessly, mouths nearly open with shock. _They'd better shut their mouths before the bugs fly in,_ David thought dryly.

"I don't understand," Alan Eppes finally said. "I always thought I'd have to worry about gang-bangers or drug dealers or serial killers. You know, about actual criminals. I never thought I'd have to worry about the victims attacking my son."

"Hey," came a new voice. David turned to see Liz Warner, followed by Colby Granger and Nikki Betancourt. "How's he doing?"

David gave Alan a knowing look before looking back at his team members. "He's got a minor concussion and a broken leg," David told them. "But he's going to be okay."

Charlie spoke up for the first time in awhile. "They've taken him to surgery to repair the damage to his leg."

Colby put a hand on the mathematician's shoulder. "If I know Don, he'll be on his feet in no time at all. I mean, I've never seen anyone recover from a collapsed lung as fast as he did."

It was true, as David recalled. Don was stabbed and had flatlined; three weeks later he was back in the field. But it didn't seem fair to David that his boss be laid up again so soon. It hadn't even been a full four months since Radovic had knifed Don.

"So, I'm not sure I get it," said Nikki. "It wasn't Lucas who pushed Don over the mountain face, it was his wives?"

David nodded. "Rachel Kelson and Leah Meyers killed Lucas, and as we were heading in with them., Becky Saunders came out of nowhere and, uh, caused Don to fall." He glossed over the detail of his boss being whacked with a branch, mostly for the sake of Charlie and Alan.

"But what I don't under stand is, why'd these women kill Lucas?" Liz wanted to know.

At times like this, David really wished Megan Reeves was still with the FBI. She would know better how to explain the psychology behind the women's actions. As it was, he would attempt to explain it himself.

"I guess they just snapped," David shrugged. "The fear and the worry or whatever of what Lucas was going to do to them just got to them. Maybe they couldn't take it anymore and decided to take matters into their own hands."

"Well, then why did they attack you and Don?" Colby asked.

"Maybe they didn't want to be arrested, I don't know," David offered.

"Or maybe they thought you were scarier looking than their deranged husband," Colby teased.

David shot his partner a glare, but he was actually a little glad at Colby's attempts at levity. It had been a long day, and David was tired. And hungry.

"Well, at least Edgerton had good timing, as usual," Charlie said. "Where is he, anyway?"

"He's still at the crime scene," Nikki informed them. Colby's silent smirk was not lost on David.

It was David's turn to ask a question. "So, how come Ian was there? We never had time to discuss his sudden appearance."

"Well, I guess we never actually told you and Don since you had already left," Liz said, "but ADIC brought him in to help track Lucas. Maybe he didn't have much confidence in you two finding him so quick."

"But we did," David said.

"Obviously," Nikki agreed.

"Mr. Eppes?" chimed in a scrub-clad doctor with a British accent.

"Yes?" Alan answered, his tone a mixture of worry and anticipation.

"Your son Don is out of surgery. We'll have him moved to a room in a couple minutes, and then you can go see him."

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_Knock, knock, knock._

David stepped back from the door and waited. Finally, a frazzled Charlie opened the door and grinned.

"Hey, David," the mathematician greeted warmly. "You here to see Don?"

David nodded in response. Stepping inside the Craftsman home, the agent felt himself relax. Coming here was always like coming home. The warmness of the house always made David feel safe, relaxed, and right at home. Megan used to tease Don a lot about how much time he spent there, but David could understand the appeal for the older Eppes brother. The place acted as a haven even for David, and he wasn't even family. Although Alan Eppes was like a father to him. And Charlie he would protect from harm like his own brother. And Don, well Don _was_ his boss, but David was proud to say that the senior agent was also one of his best friends.

Looking into the living room, David could see Don laying down on the couch, with his heavily bandaged left leg propped up on one end, pillow underneath. He had an arm slung over his eyes and appeared to be asleep. David noticed a pair of crutches leaning against the wall near the couch.

"Thanks, Charlie," David whispered.

Charlie grinned. "I'll be in the garage."

David nodded and watched the younger Eppes retreat to the garage. Then he carefully sat down on the arm of the couch, next to Don's broken leg.

"Hey, Boss!" David said loudly. It worked; Don slowly brought his arm away from his face and blinked sleepily.

"What?" Don mumbled weakly before recognition set in, and he relaxed. "Oh hey, David."

"How're you feeling?" David asked.

"Oh, you know, not too bad," Don grinned. "Courtesy of some very happy drugs."

David snorted. Yep, he knew the drugs. He'd been shot before. He was very familiar with the effectiveness of the happy pills.

"How's things at the office?" Don wondered. David knew what his boss really meant--_How's the case going?_

"it's been a pretty crazy couple of days," David answered. "Got those ladies in lock-up. They'll probably plead self-defense for Lucas, and they got a pretty good chance. No one can prove Rachel or Leah had anything to do with your somersault act down the mountain face."

"Yeah, that might have only been Becky, whose conviction has already been sentenced." Don sighed. "I can't I made such a rookie mistake."

David knew this was coming. "Don't worry too much about it, Don. It could have happened to anyone."

Don scoffed. "Yeah, first Radovic, now this twenty-five year-old girl who probably can't even lift Edgerton's sniper rifle. I must be losing it."

David sighed. "Don, you know better than I do that anyone of us can be gotten to. I was shot twice within a year, Colby's cover was blown and then was injected with some pretty scary drugs on that Chinese freighter, Liz was almost killed by that Hawaiian Ice dealer, and Nikki's--well Nikki always seems to be in some sort of trouble. Megan was kidnapped by a spree killer, and you were stabbed by a desparate Serbian and thrown down a mountain by a desparate wife."

"Yeah," Don said. "It's that last one that has me feeling a little stupid."

David switched tactics. "Look, those other two managed to take down a man who killed twelve others just like them. I guess these things happen. Maybe more to us because we face danger on a daily basis." He shrugged.

Don sighed. "Why can't you just let me beat myself up for awhile in peace?"

David snorted. "Sorry. I could try to pretend to be Megan and profile you and give you sage advice on how to feel better, but I don't think I will."

David's humor was rewarded by a small smile from his boss. "Thanks for sparing me that." There was a small pause. "Wait a minute. I'm the boss. I'm supposed to be the experienced one. Why are _you_ giving_ me_ advice?"

David grinned. "Sorry, boss. I was just following your lead."

Don looked seriously at David. "Well, thanks. But it doesn't matter. It won't be long before I'm back at the office kicking your ass back into shape anyway."

"Uh, save some of that energy for Granger," David joked. "He needs it."

Glancing at his boss, David noticed Don's stamina was fading fast. Another effect of the happy pills was that they made one sleep an awful lot.

"Well, I better get going. Got a few loose ends to tie at the office," David announced. "Just came by to see how you were doing."

Don nodded wearily and David stood up. "Hey David."

David raised his eyebrows.

"Thanks," Don continued. "I know the team's in good hands with you, Sinclair."

"Thanks, Don," David returned. "But we can't wait for you to be back on your feet. I don't know how you handle us sometimes. Especially Nikki. She's like a wild colt."

Don chuckled, but fell asleep as he was doing so. David walked out to the garage, told Charlie goodbye, and went to his car. As he climbed in, David thanked whoever was out there that his friends were alive and safe. Sometimes, it could turn out the other way, but not today.

Today was a good day.

_End_

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_Well, that's it. Hope you enjoyed, I was really nervous about this story for some reason. Please review and tell me what you think. And thanks again to each and every person who has already or will in the future review! And everyone who favorited or anything. It really was very encouraging. I might just come back with another fic soon....


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